Harness motion for looms



Aug. 15, 1939. w. G. TRAUTVETTER HARNESS MOTION FOR LOOMS Filed June 15,1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR William G. Trauivefter WITNESSES M W?ATTORNEYS Aug. '15, 1939. w. G. TRAUTVETTER HARNESS MOTION FOR LOOMSFiled June 15, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR G4. Trauivefir wmvzssssWilliam ATTORNEYS g- 15, 1939- v w. G. TRAUTVETTER 9,

HARNESS MOTION FOR Looms I Filed June 15, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IINVENTOR Zl/zllzam afl r'aufveffer' WITNESSES f/ Fm ATTORNEYS PatentedAug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved harness motion for looms and hasfor an object to provide a construction which is designed to give theheddles a smooth and uniform action,

Another object of the invention is to provide a harness motion for loomswherein a dwell may be provided during the time the shed isaccommodating the shuttle.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide aharness motion for looms which will cause the heddles to move smoothlyand uniformly and which may be adjusted to vary the dwell of the shed sothat the speed of r the loo-m may be increased without putting any maybe of any desired structure.

undesirable tension on the warp yarn.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 isa side View of partof a loom witha harness motion disclosing an embodiment of the invention appliedthereto;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged View of the control mechanism of the harnessmotion shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said view being a section through Fig. 4approximately on the line 3-3;

Fig. 4 is an edge view of the structure shown in Fig. 3; r

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawings by numerals, l indicates theframe of a loom which may be of any desired construction and providedwith any desired number of heddles 2 which also As is well showing knownthe heddles 2 may be lowered under the action of gravity through the useof weights or under the action of springs. The particular constructionof heddles and means. for lowering the same form no part of the presentinvention but the means. for raising the heddles and releasing the samedoes disclose the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.In Fig. 2 it will be seen that there are provided cables 3 and 4 whichare adapted to be passed over suitable pulleys 5 and 6 connected to theupper part of the heddles 2 so that when these cables are pulled theheddles will be raised and when these cables are released theheddleswill be lowered. It will of course be understood that the device may beconnected with one or any desired number of heddles without departingfrom the spirit of the invention though ordinarily the device isconnected with two heddles to form an ordinary shed during thefunctioning of the loom. It will of 1 course be understood that when oneheddle is up the other heddle is down and the shed is formed whereby theshuttle of the loom may readily pass for laying a warp yarn.

The cables or straps 3 and 4 are connected to a step pulley 6, as shownin Fig. 1, which pulii" ley is rigidly secured to a shaft 1. rotatablymounted in suitable journal members 8 and 9 carried by the frame. Acrank I0 is keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to shaft I and as thiscrank swings upwardly and downwardly the step pulley 6 will be rocked inone direction or in the opposite direction. The crank I0 is providedwith a slot II through which a pin l2 extends. This pin is adapted to belocked at any desired point along the slot H by any desired means, as.for instance by having the pin formed with a shoulder resting againstthe crank l0 and a nutl3 screwed on to the loose end for clamping thepin rigidly in place. A shackle I4 is rotatably mounted on the shaft I2and a rod I5 is connected therewith through a bifurcated end l6 whichstraddles part of the shackle I4 and which accommodates the journal pinI! extending through the arms of the bifurcated end l6 and through partof the shackle. This gives, in a 25 certain sense, a universalconnection to the parts whereby as the shaft or rod 1 5 reciprocatescrank I0 will be rocked and the heddle 2 will be raised and lowered. Therod I5 is connected to the crank l8 through the bifurcated end member ISin the same way that the rod is connected with the crank In. It willtherefore be seen that the universal connection permits a desirableswinging motion in planes at right angles to each W other while the pin20 may be adjusted longi- 3'5 tudinally of a slot 2!. The driving cranki8 is rotatably mounted on a stud shaft 22 which is secured by setscrews or otherwise to the tubular extension 22 of the frame 24.Directly below the stud shaft 22 there is provided a drive shaft 23which is driven by an electric motor or any other suitable source ofpower which operates the loom as it functions. It will therefore beevident that the shaft 23 must move in proper time for the movement ofthe mechanism for throw ing the shuttles. The supporting frame 24 issecured by various bolts 25, 26 and 21 to the frame I and coacts with anauxiliary frame 28 for supporting and holding in position certain partshereinafter fully described. The frame 28, as shown in Fig. 3, has analmost L-shaped formation with one end surrounding the shaft 23, withthe center accommodating the bolt 29 and with the opposite endaccommodating the bolt 30. It will be understood that the shaft 23freely ro- 55 tates in the end of the frame 28 but that a power crank 3|is keyed or otherwise rigidly secured to the shaft. A notched wheel 32,commonly known as a star wheel, is rotatably mounted on the shaft 29 andactuates a large gear wheel 33. This gear wheel carries a number of pins34 which slidingly fit into apertures 35 in the star wheel 32. Gearwheel 33 continually meshes with a pinion or small gear wheel 36 whichrotates on the stud shaft 22. This shaft is rigidly clamped to thetubular extensions 22 of plate 24.

The power crank 3| is provided with a wheel 31 rotatably mounted upon apin 38, which pin is secured in any desired manner to the crank 3|. Thiswheel is adapted to readily move into any of the notches 39 formed inthe star wheel 32 so as to move the star wheel a desired distance. Aretaining or holding disk 40 is carried by the crank 3| and is adaptedto move into the arc-shaped depressions 4| for holding the star wheel 32stationary after the roller or wheel 37 has moved out of a particularnotch 39. As shown in the accompanying drawings the shaft 23 will rotatesix times to one rotation of the star wheel 32 and the gear wheel 33. Ifdesired, the star wheel 32 could be made with more or less notches and,consequently, the ratio of rotation of the parts just mentioned could bevaried. The movement of the star wheel 32 causes the rotation of pinion36 and driving crank I8 sufficiently to change the shed and then holdthe shed stationary during the time the star wheel 32 is stationary. Theparts could be sopropor t oned that the dwell would be 240 and themovement of the parts This would give an exceptionally long dwell foraccommodating the shuttle and is desirable where the yarn is ratherdelicate. Also by giving an exceptionally long dwell the shed need notbe as great as where there is no dwell at all. By varying theproportions of the parts the dwell could be varied, for instance from240 down to 120, or for an even less time, though ordinarily the dwellwould be 120 or more in order to take care of the shuttle when the loomis running at comparatively high speed.

By providing the parts as just described the movements of the heddlesare smooth and uniform and not jerky. By reason of this fact the yarnwill not be readily broken even though it may be delicate or someparticular end may be weakened. The smoothness of the starting andstopping of the heddles, therefore, will result in a better piece ofwoven cloth as well as the resulting production of a greater yardage ofcloth as the stoppage of the loom will be less frequent. During theusual functioning of the device the shaft 23 rotates at a uniform speedand in proportion to the action of the shuttle so that the sheds will bemade at the proper time. However, when the loom is not in use the shaft23 may be rotated by the hand wheel 42 in order to set the heddles orthe various parts in the desired way.

In Fig. 5 the same inventive concept is presented but the specificstructure for the transmission of power to the driving crank i8 isdifferent. Referring particularly to this figure it will be seen thatthe large gear wheel 33 is driven through the action of a ratchet wheel43. This ratchet wheel is preferably rigidly secured to a shaft 44 andthe gear wheel 33 in this form of the invention is also secured to thesame shaft, which shaft is rotatably supported by a supporting plate 24and a frame 28. A link 45 is rockably mounted on the shaft 44 and at 46is pivotally connected with a second link 4! which in turn is pivotallyconnected at 48 to a power crank 3|. The crank 3| is identical withcrank 3| shown in Fig. 1, and by reason of shaft 23 continually rotatesduring the operation of the loom. By means of the construction justdescribed the link 45 swings upwardly and downwardly. A pawl 49 ispivotally mounted at 50 on link 45 and is resiliently held by aretractile spring 5| so that the pawl will continually engage theratchet wheel 43. It will therefore be noted that as the shaft 23rotates pawl 49 moves upwardly and downwardly and on the downward strokewill move the ratchet wheel 43, gear wheel 33, and associated parts,while on the upward stroke these members remain at rest and,consequently, there is a dwell in the shed.

I claim:

1. A harness motion for a loom having heddles and a constantly rotatingshaft, comprising mechanism for raising and lowering said heddles toform a shed, said mechanism including a reciprocating member, and meansactuated by said shaft for causing said reciprocating member to have astationary dwell after forming each shed, said means including, apinion, a large gear continually meshing with the pinion, and meansintermittently moving said large gear a certain number of times for eachrotation of the large gear, said pinion being so proportioned to saidlarge gear that it will move one-half a revolution upon eachintermittent movement of said large gear.

2. A harness motion for looms including a reciprocating structure, arotatable member for causing said reciprocating structure to function, apinion connected with said rotatable member for causing the rotatablemember to function, a notched member connected with said gear wheel forcausing the gear wheel to function, and a power driven memberintermittently engaging said notched member in the respective notchesthereof in succession for intermittently causing said notched membertofunction.

3. A harness motion for looms including a reciprocating structure, arotatable member for moving said reciprocating structure, a pinion forrotating said rotatable member, a gear wheel continually in mesh withsaid pinion for rotating said pinion, a star wheel connected with saidgear wheel, power driven means coacting with said star wheel for causingthe star wheel to function and thereby cause said gear wheel tointermittently rotate and operate the heddles of the loom and provide astationary dwell while the star wheel remains stationary and a quickchanging of the shed while the star wheel is moving.

4. A harness motion for looms including a reciprocating rod, a crank formoving said rod, a pinion for operating said crank, a gear wheelcontinually meshing with said pinion and means for intermittently movingsaid gear wheel, said means including a star wheel removably secured tosaid gear wheel and a power driven member actuated by the pow-eroperating the loom so that the star wheel will function in time with theremaining parts of the loom and will cause a quick forming of the shedand a stationary dwell in the shed while the star wheel is being heldstationary.

5. A harness for looms having a plurality of heddles and a constantlyrotating shaft, comprising mechanism for raising andlowering saidheddles to form sheds, said mechanism including a reciprocating memberfor each of said heddles, a rotatable member for each of saidreciprocating, members for causing said reciprocating members tofunction, a gear wheel rigidly connected with said rotatable members, asecond gear wheel meshing with the first-mentioned gear wheel, arotatable structure secured to said second gear wheel for intermittentlyrotating the same, and means actuated by said constantly rotating shaftfor intermittently actuating said rotatable structure whereby the shedsare formed quickly as the second gear wheel moves and are heldstationary while the second gear wheel is stationary.

6. A harness: motion for looms including a reciprocating rod, arotatablemember for reciproeating said rod, a pinion for rotating said rotatablemember, a gear wheel continually meshing with said pinion, a star wheelrigidly secured to said wheel whereby when the star wheel is moved saidgear and pinion wil be moved, a pair of supporting frames carried bysaid loom for supporting said pinion, gear and star wheel, and apower-driven member actuating said star wheel actuated by the poweroperating the loom so that the star wheel will function in time with theremaining parts of the loom and cause a quick forming of the shed and astationary dwell in the shed while the star wheel is being heldstationary.

WILLIAM G. TRAUTVETTER.

